The soundtrack of a love
by AlmeidasGirl
Summary: The stages of Tony and Michelle's life together.
1. Catch a falling star

Catch a falling star 

**This is the first part of my chronic about the love of Tony and Michelle.**

**Each part is named after a song and that is why the whole thing is called "The soundtrack of a love"**

**This part is named after a song by Perry Como.**

Catch a falling star an' put it in your pocket,  
Never let it fade away!  
Catch a falling star an' put it in your pocket,  
Save it for a rainy day!

For love may come an' tap you on the shoulder,  
Some star-less night!  
Just in case you feel you wanna' hold her,  
You'll have a pocketful of starlight!

**Disclaimer: I don't owe anything of "24", or the song "Catch a falling star" by Perry Como.**

**This part takes place around 4 months before Day 2.**

**Events do not occur in real time ; )**

Michelle Dessler was sitting in her car. It was Monday midday and the sun shone down from above the city.

In front of her was the building she was about to go in, it was the headquarter of the counter terrorism unit in Los Angeles.

She took a look at her watch and sighed. She was too early.

George Mason was expecting her in about 15 minutes.

She leaned back in her seat letting everything pass through her mind again.

Two months ago she had gotten a call from Ryan Chapelle offering her a job as the head of intelligence. At that time she would have probably taken any job to get away from District – and away from Carrie.

She had agreed to take over that job immediately but now she wasn't so sure anymore.

Was she the right person for this job? There was no doubt that it was a huge carrier move for her. But on the other hand she was afraid of failing. She had never before had such a job, a job including regular overtime.

What if she …

Stop Michelle she told herself again, like she had did a thousand times before.

At least George Mason, whom she had met once or twice before seemed to be really nice, she remembered. He had been really nice to her on the phone and she had a good feeling about him.

But there was also his second in command, Tony Almeida. She had heard of him a couple of times at the District. She'd heard a lot of people talking about him being a weird, severe and lonely man who was always in a bad mood. But she would learn more about him, there was no doubt because she would have to work with agent Almeida almost every day.

She took a deep breath and watched the security men walking around the parking lot. Maybe she should get inside before they would arrest her of hanging out here. A slight smile came up on her face.

It was time anyway. She slowly got out of the car, locked it and took a last look at herself in the car window.

She had chosen a black skirt, a red blouse and a black blazer – it was quite formal but she wanted to make a good first impression.

Her hair was bend together at the back of her head. She sighed, usually her hair looked good this way, but this morning it had been a total mess and this was everything she could make out of it.

She took a deep breath and then headed to the entrance. She was a total nerve wreck now.

Tony Almeida was standing in the middle of the situation room in front of ten agents at a table. Everyone was looking at the screen behind him.

It was his first day after a one week vacation and he'd already stacked up a Lever 2 protocol.

"The secret service agents are cooperating with our field unit who has secured the whole area around the building president Palmer will meet the president of Mexico today. I want you to survey the whole area within a 3 km radius. Make sure …."

Suddenly the door was opened and everybody turned around trying to see who disturbed the meeting.

George Mason entered the room followed by a woman whom Tony did not know, but her gorgeous didn't surpass him, "Sorry Tony. Please go ahead." Mason said as he remained in the back corner of the room next to the woman.

Tony watched Mason whispering something to the woman on which she nodded shortly. As he realized he was almost staring at them he quickly turned back to the screen.

"Uh … this is the whole area. Jackson? Your teams should cover this side." He pointed to the south and the west.

"No one should get through this perimeter who isn't allowed to, make that clear. Stay on comm. all the time.

You others, focus on surveillance footage. Satellite – traffic – radar – infrared….everything. And if there is something unusual you will report to me or George Mason right away. Alright, that's it for now. Updates every 15 minutes. Let's get back to work." He said and nodded.

Slowly the room emptied and everybody got back to their desks.

Tony gathered a few folders from the table in front of him as Mason came up on him.

"Do you have a minute?"

"Sure George." Tony said, still focused on his folders.

"Tony…this is Michelle Dessler. She will take over for Sam from now on."

Now Tony looked up and his glance wandered to the left side where the woman was offering him a hand. She was smiling shyly.

"Oh, hey. I'm Tony. And I am really glad you are here, we need everyone today." He smiled friendly at her and took her hand shaking it slowly.

When Michelle touched his hand a warm shiver flashed through her spine. And she started to feel a little dizzy so she had to take a deep breath to not fall unconscious.

So that was Tony Almeida, her boss!

Michelle had to admit that he actually looked really good. And those brown eyes of his were almost hypnotizing.

Tony felt the world stop moving. All he could see were her deep brown eyes looking at him. And the shy smile that was still on her beautiful face.

"Uh…could you show her around? I got an important phone conference coming up." Mason looked at Tony.

Tony noticed he was staring at Michelle again quickly pulled back his hand and turned to George Mason.

"Yeah." Tony said crossing his arm.

"Thanks Tony. Michelle…I will see you later." With that Mason smiled at her and left the room.

Michelle watched Mason leave then turned back to Tony who was looking at her.

She smiled.

Quickly he took his folders,

"Alright, come with me and I'll show you the castle."

Grinning he went out of the room and headed over to the main area.

"Could I have your attention for a second?" Tony spoke up in the middle of the hall.

Michelle stopped two steps behind him and looked around. All the people who were running upstairs and across the floor like hell just broke loose stopped and turned to them.

"This is Michelle Dessler. She's taking over for Sam Caulfield. Make her feel welcome." A few people gave her short smile and just a couple of seconds later everyone had sunken back into their work.

"This is my desk." He put down the folders and took a sip out of a mug on the table. Michelle hid a grin. Tony obviously was a CUBS fan.

"Over there is the IT room" he pointed to a hallway on her right side.

"And this is the major floor, where all the action takes place." He smiled.

"Okay." Was all she could respond to his charming smile.

"And…" he went over to another desk and added,

"This is your own private desk. The phone is set up and you can enter the database with your password."

Michelle put down her purse.

"Oh…Mason's office is right up there." He aimed at the stairs a few meters ahead of them that were leading upstairs.

Her glance wandered up and she saw Mason talking to someone on the phone through the glass walls.

"So…I guess that is all you have to know by now."

"Thank you." Michelle slowly sat down and leaned back and forward to test her new chair which was quite comfortable.

"Tony?" a small man came over to them from a desk across hers.

"Yup?" Tony turned around.

"I've got a priority call from Division on line 3."

"Uh…thanks. I'll take it at my desk." Tony said and turned back to Michelle who had switched on her screen meanwhile.

"I need to take this call. You might wanna take a look at the active protocols, get used to the system flow. If you got a question I'll be at my station."

"Thank you." She nodded shortly and sighed when he walked away.

This was going to be a lot of work

Michelle took a deep breath and sighed. Not only was this work more complicated but there was also a Tony Almeida and reflecting the last minutes she kinda felt ashamed. She'd said nothing but okay and thank you…due to this handshake with him earlier she was still feeling kind of dizzy.

While Tony was talking to Brad Hammond his gaze almost unintentionally wandered over to Michelle.

A slight smile appeared on his face when he thought about earlier. He could still feel her soft skin on his like when they'd shaken hands.

After Sam Caulfield had resigned from this job a few weeks ago, CTU had initiated the hiring process for Tony's old job again.

A couple of day's later fifty folders from fifty different applicants for this job had been on Tony's desk. He read all of them but when he got Michelle's references he had told Mason and Chapelle about her right away and both had agreed that she would be the best for this job.

She had been at District for almost 5 years and before that she had been at Division for a couple of months. And she had done a great job there.

Tony wasn't just glad about her being good at her work but also because she also looked so … beautiful, especially with those tiny brownish curls.

Stop Tony. You decided to separate work and private ever since this whole thing with Nina happened about a year ago, he told himself.

But on the other hand that had also made him end up alone.

"Tony? Are you listening?" Brad Hammond cut him off.

"Uh…yeah." Tony said quickly and focused back on the phone call.

Ten minutes later Michelle had just finished reading the protocols when Tony came over in a hurry.

"Hey Michelle. Do you know how to do a Level 5 data search?"

"Uh… I've done a Level 3 a couple of times." She looked up on him confused.

"It's basically the same. The only difference is that you can enter the whole database with 5."

When he saw her odd look her added,

"I know this kind of search parameter is unusual…" he responded like he had read her thoughts,

"…but I need everything you can find about this guy." He handed her a brown folder on which a small photo was attached.

"Are you fluent with our pattern?"

"Yes." Michelle opened the folder and skimmed the pages.

"I opened a socket for you to server B7. Only use that server, understood? " he looked at her determined.

"All right."

"I also need a print out for a briefing in 5 minutes. Do you think you can do it until then?" his expression softened a bit.

"Absolutely." She nodded smiling.

"Good. When you are done meet me in the situation room."

"Yeah."

"Thanks Michelle." He sighed relieved and smiled shortly then turned suddenly almost ran upstairs to Mason's office.

Michelle watched him leaving then turned to the screen, opening a channel, initiating the software for the data search.

Just a few seconds later Mason and Tony came down the stairs again.

"Can I have your attention please?" Mason stayed on the last step and raised his voice.

"We were just informed about a possible attack aimed at the presidential meeting today. I want all active area-heads in the situation room in five minutes. High priority."

Then he and Tony headed to the situation room.

What was going on here?

Michelle turned to the screen and read a few words coming up from the search. This was obviously a search on a terrorist.

Michelle leaned back while the data was printing out and uploaded on the server at the same time.

This meeting between President Palmer and the Mexican president was long awaited and it was important for both states.

And as almost every time they were a couple of men who wanted to stop this, but Michelle would never have guessed that today of all days would be a terror-attack.

Her first day at CTU.

And she wasn't even here for 30 minutes and now was going to be a part of an operation to prevent this attack form happening.

"We definitely have to secure this area." Tony pointed down on the map as Michelle entered.

"The data is ready. I flagged everything important you might need." She handed him the print-outs.

"Thank you." He smiled and lowered his head focusing back on the map in front of him.

"Michelle? I want you to present the results on Goméz." Mason suddenly said.

Tony looked up surprised and saw that Michelle's face had turned slightly red.

"What?" she pressed out almost inaudible.

"Well, there is no better way to get used to it." Mason shrugged.

"Okay." She answered and smiled forced.

She sat down with her papers.

"Michelle?" Tony sat down next to her just a moment later.

She looked over to him uneasy.

"You okay?"

"Yeah…just nervous." She admitted.

"You're gonna be good. Just tell them the important things you've already flagged anyway."

She nodded on his friendly smile and lowered her head.

"I don't have a pencil." She suddenly noticed sounding a little desperate.

"Here, take mine." He handed her a silver pencil still smiling.

"Thanks." She took it and placed it softly on her papers.

Tony was so nice to her – how come every one was talking about him like he was an idiot?

On the contrary – he just had given her the right words to slow her pulse down and to not freak out about this presentation.

Two minutes later the room was packed with people, all gathered around Mason who was standing in front of the screen.

Tony had taken a seat right next to Michelle and every time he looked over her asking if she was getting along her heart started pounding harder.

"The head of the group is a man named Hector Goméz." A photo of a Mexican man appeared behind him.

"Michelle?" Mason nodded over to her. She took a deep breath and raised her head, noticing everyone in the room staring at her.

"Hector Goméz. He is the head of a Mexican rebel group called "The Awakening". His claim is to build a terror regime in Mexico and he was responsible for the attack on the president of Mexico last year.

The CIA has him under surveillance since this attack.

For a couple of months we also have an undercover agent in his closer group. This agent got the information to us and

He also confirmed that Goméz left Mexico a week ago and he was heading to Los Angeles." She sounded very confident.

"And now our priority is to find Goméz and his group within the next 4 hours. In your briefing package is everything essential, you need to know. I want all areas to clear their directory and to stay in constant contact with Division and our field teams so we can secure the whole area." Mason added.

Then he distributed the tasks to every one and ended the meeting.

Michelle was the last one to leave as Tony called her back,

"Listen, uhm. Could you do me a favour?"

"Sure." She nodded expecting.

"Division send us surveillance footage of the area from the past week. It is our only lead so far. I know that this work is actually for the analysts and I wouldn't ask you but …"

"I am not fluent with the protocols." She added.

"Yeah." He gave her an uneasy look.

"No problem. I can do it."

"Really?"

"Yeah, just tell me where I can do it." She smiled friendly.

Tony was speechless for a few seconds. This smile …

"Uh… go to the video room right next to the IT, you can download the footage there."

"Good."

"Thank you so much Michelle." He sighed.

"You're welcome."

"I promise you the next time you'll get something more demanding."

"Okay." She had to laugh.

"Michelle?"

She turned around again.

"You did great a few minutes ago." He smiled brightly.

She gave back a friendly smile then went out.

Michelle had been eyeing the video feeds for half an hour and slowly her back started to ache on this hard chair. She leaned back and stretched a little bit.

"Hey." Someone said from behind her and almost made her fall backwards, but she could reach the table so she managed to pull her self back.

It was Tony.

He sat down on the other chair and rolled over to her.

"What's going on?" she turned around.

"Everything is under control so far. We got the area under control and there is nothing I can do anymore for the next 20 minutes. So I thought I could help you. Oh…here." He handed her a little water bottle.

"Thank you." She took it smiling.

They split the workload and watched in silence for the next few minutes.

Every once in a while Michelle quickly glanced over to Tony. Even though they had just met she had the feeling that they would get along.

Tony leaned back and sighed,

"I don't think we will find something on these tapes. It's a waste of time."

Michelle looked over to him wanting to respond as something caught her glance.

"Tony…could you rewind the camera 2?" she suddenly said.

"Uh…yeah. What did you see?" he did what she had asked for.

He tipped on the keyboard and maximized the screen.

Michelle watched it twice and finally freeze framed the video. On the picture was a man talking to someone on his cell.

A smile appeared on her face.

"What?" he gave her a confused look.

"I know this guy." She pointed on the screen.

"His name is Jacob Gray. Couple of month ago I attended a meeting of an investigation on him at Division. He's a former police officer who was released of his duties because…" she stopped as a smile appeared on her face again,

"He had been connected with Mexican terrorists."

"Why wasn't he flagged by our database then?" Tony's mind was racing.

"Well, as far as I know the charges against Gray were dropped. Turned out there was no proof. And because the charges were dropped the name was erased of the list" She shrugged.

"Okay, so we got this guy who might be in contact with terrorists and even with Goméz …" Tony thought loud.

"Yeah…but it could be nothing." Michelle said.

"But Gray is our only lead. We need to find him."

"Shouldn't be a problem. I call Division to send over the file." Michelle took the phone and dialled.

"I'm gonna talk to Mason, right away. When you are done, get a field team prepared."

Michelle nodded shortly and turned back to her phone.

About twenty minutes later she was sitting in the situation room with Tony, Mason and three other agents of the crisis team.

"Okay…we got phone bills from last month and obviously Gray talked a lot with Mexico lately." Michelle handed Mason a folder with the phone bills.

"Alright, field teams are in position to get Gray. We need to get a hold of him. If he knows something we need to know within the hour. Tony? Prep the special assault team for Goméz. Michelle? Brief Arnold on Gray so he can start interrogating him as soon as he gets here."

Michelle nodded and looked over to Arnold who smiled slightly at her.

"Jackson? You'll be coordinating the field teams with me. That's all for now."

Mason switched off the HD-screen and went to the exit.

Slowly all agents left the room except for Michelle and Agent Arnold whom she was about to brief.

Tony was leaning against the table talking to Mason right across from Michelle.

His glance moved over to her while he waited for Mason to finish the call.

How smart and strong she looked, doing her job.

He really was certain that she'd be great as head of crisis team.

When Michelle had finished with Arnold five minutes later she left the room and went out to the desk where the operation was coordinated tactically.

"Hey." She stopped right next to Tony.

"Oh, hey. The team is about to get him. We just got the confirmation he is inside." He explained whispering sp he wouldn't disturb the operation.

"Good." She said.

"Thanks to you. That was great work Michelle." He smiled.

"Thanks." She responded smiling at him. Then she turned to the screen.

Maybe this job wasn't that bad at all she thought, in more than one way.

Another thirty minutes later Jacob Gray was sitting in one of CTU holding rooms being interrogated and just 15 minutes later the field agents started to prepare for their operation to get Goméz.

Michelle was sitting at her desk working on some things when Tony appeared her. He sat down next to her on her desk and watched her,

"You getting along?"

"Yeah…slowly I get a feeling for this." She smiled.

"Uh…the operation is about to start. Wanna help me with the satellite feeds?"

"Sure."

"The least I can do after I underestimated your talent by letting you watch this video footage." He grinned.

"You didn't. If I wouldn't have watched the videos we might have never gotten a chance to catch him."

"Yeah, but I wanted to apologize anyway."

"Accepted." She said grinning sheepishly.

"Good."

They glanced at each other for while in silence.

"Tony?"

A female agent came over to them and they quickly broke eye contact. Smiling shyly.

"Uh…yeah?"

"Field teams are in position."

"Okay."

Tony stepped back and turned back to Michelle.

"Ready?"

"Yes." Then they walked over to Mason.

The operation went smooth and Goméz was indeed where Gray had told them he'd be.

He was on his way to CTU now, together with 5 men from his group.

Michelle looked at her watch. She had been at CTU for a few hours now but somehow it felt more like days. It was not that it was physically exhausting but to be concentrated all the time made her feel tired.

Back at District she also had 8 hour days but that was nothing compared to this.

"Hey…you okay?" Tony joined her at her desk where she was currently writing a report.

"Yeah." She smiled brave.

"Why don't you get something to eat?"

"Nah…I'm fine." She waved it away.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, thanks."

"Okay."

She smiled tired as he turned and went back to his desk.

Tony seemed to be tired to. But somehow he managed to not let anyone know.

Thirty minutes later she got up and headed to Tony, carrying the hour lies she'd just eyed.

"Here are the hour lies, nothing unusual. I think the president will have a quiet day yet." She grinned.

"Yeah, thanks." He laughed slightly.

"Anything else?"

"So far…no. Take a break." He smiled.

How could she stand this smile?

"Okay." She turned around still smiling as suddenly a loud yell went trough the hall.

Then a shot.

Michelle felt a hand pulling her backwards and she slipped in her pumps. She felt down on her knees hard.

Another shot.

"He's down." Somebody yelled and Michelle slowly raised her head opening her eyes she saw Goméz laying ten meter ahead of her down on the floor with a gunshot wound in his upper chest, bleeding strong.

Three agents were standing around him, one yelling for medical assistance.

Then she turned her glance and saw that Tony was kneeling next to her his arm wrapped around her back like a protection.

He had pulled her down and it was very likely that he had saved her life with that because a bullet stuck in the desk right next to her on the height of her stomach if she would have been standing up.

Tony helped her up when she felt a bad pain flushing through her ankle.

She groaned and reached out for his arm to pull herself back.

"You okay?" he asked softly helping her to sit down on a chair.

"My ankle…I must have twisted it when I felt down."

Tony kneeled down and took a look at her ankle then he grabbed the phone,

"I need medical at station 3." He hung up and turned back to Michelle.

"Everything else okay?" he asked.

Michelle nodded.

"Really?"

"I am okay. Thanks to you."

He hesitated.

"I am fine." She had to smile.

"Okay…I'll be back in a few minutes."

She nodded again smiling.

Tony took a last look at Michelle. Then he went around and moved over to the group who'd gathered around the body.

"What's his condition?" he asked the med.

"Critical. We need to get him into surgery." The man stated.

When Goméz was being taken away Tony turned back to Michelle who was sitting on her chair her face in her hands she looked so vulnerable, like all her braveness and strength had been gone with this incident.

Michelle walked out into the darkness on the parking lot.

Her ankle had been cooled and was now feeling better. Fortunately it had been just a contusion. Nothing compared to what could happened if she would have gotten shot instead.

She slowly walked across the lot. Her first day was officially over.

Mason had sent her home after the debriefing until tomorrow.

When she had left the medical unit she had looked for Tony to thank him but he was nowhere to be found.

She stopped a few meters before her car and looked up.

The whole sky was cloudless, sprinkled with stars shining bright and the moon was covering her in a whitish halo.

"Michelle!" someone yelled from behind.

She turned around and saw Tony running up on her.

"You forgot your purse." He hold it up.

"Oh…thank you." She took it smiling.

"Are you going home?"

"Yes." She smiled brave.

"You okay?" he looked down on her foot.

She slowly nodded and felt her eyes getting wet so she quickly lowered her head.

"Michelle?" he touched her arm.

She took a few deep breaths and then looked up at him with wet eyes.

"I don't know if I am the right person for this job."

"Michelle…"

"I mean…this whole day…it's so much work and I don't know if I …. If I can do that."

"I know how you feel. I felt like this too when I started here. And there was no crazy lunatic who shot at people on my first day."

Both had to laugh.

"But one thing I can tell you for sure is that you are perfect for this job. We choose you because you are good at what you do. And after today I am convinced that you can do it." He smiled brightly looking at her slowly stroking her arm with his hand.

"Just give it a try. Alright?" he added.

"Will it be like this every day?" Michelle smiled.

"Nope…most of the time it will be exhausting." He grinned.

"Thank you Tony, for this and for saving my life." She smiled again.

Suddenly she leaned forward and hugged him tight. Surprised by her own action she quickly pulled back again, smiling shyly.

But when she rose her glance she saw that he was still smiling and her heart started to beat faster.

Michelle couldn't believe how awesome it was to be near him, to feel him.

She just wanted to apologize as Tony suddenly raised his arm.

"Look." He was pointing to the sky.

A shooting star.

"Make a wish." He said to Michelle.

"But you saw him first." She answered.

"Yeah, but I think I will share with you. See it as a welcome present." Again there was this perfect beautiful smile of him.

She smiled back at him and then both closed their eyes.


	2. Closer to you

**This part takes place right after Season 2. **

**Disclaimer: I don't owe anything of "24", or the song "Closer to you" by Counting Crows or "The fabulous world of Amelie".**

**Again …Events do not occur in real time **

Michelle was driving down the street in her blue Ford.

She had just taken her brother back home and was now heading home alone.

Her head was pounding like hell and she could barely focus on the traffic in front of her.

The last day had been one of the most horrible and scaring days of her whole life, and yet it had been one of the most wonderful, too.

She hadn't been that happy in a long time and even though she was tired and exhausted she couldn't help but smile.

Everything that had happened in the last 24 hours between her and Tony seemed so surreal.

And actually the whole day was covered in a grey shadow in her memories now.

The only thing she still remembered clearly was his soft lips on hers.

That kiss had been the most passionate experience in her entire life.

And all the time she had feared he wouldn't feel the same for her…

Since she had started at CTU a few months ago, there had been something hanging between them. And after her breakdown he had comforted her and then they had finally kissed.

And after they had managed to get through the crisis alive she went up to his office hoping he would say something.

At first he didn't seem like he would say anything and she wanted to leave with that but in the end he said "See you tomorrow"!

And then she knew that he wouldn't forget about the kiss. But had she interpreted it right?

Or had she misunderstood what he intended to say?

Maybe he just meant that he wanted them to be friends like before, and that the kiss had been due to the crisis they'd had to face.

But would he have said that he doesn't regret anything, then?

Michelle's head started to hurt even more as she thought about it and the cars in front of her merged to a thick grey smoke.

She had to close her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath.

A few minutes later she entered the parking lot next to the house where her apartment was located.

Michelle turned off the engine and leaned back in her seat, fiddling with her car keys.

How come she made herself feel so nervous, she asked herself again and again. Just because she did not know what Tony's intention was.

She should just ask him right away. And for just a single second she even considered driving back to CTU, but then she shook her head slightly and decided to talk to him first thing when she was back at work tomorrow.

It would be better to give it some time, anyway…

But what if…

"Michelle stop" she whispered to herself and got out of the car.

The only right thing to do now was to get some rest and sleep and to give it some time.

She would talk to him the next day. Period.

Tony was still sitting at his desk in his new office, trying not to think about what had happened during the last hours but to focus on the left work he had to do yet before going home.

He signed the paper in front of him as his phone ringed,

"Almeida?" he answered.

"It is Brad Hammond, from Division."

"Hey." Tony leaned back in his seat.

"I just wanted to let you know that I settled everything over here so you could come over to District by tomorrow at 6 and sign your new contract as director of CTU Los Angeles."

"Okay. Thanks Brad." Tony hung up again.

It was a carrier move, but somehow it didn't felt right having gotten it from George, knowing he had only gotten it because George had been exposed to a lethal dose of radioactivity.

Tony stood up, took his jacket and walked carefully out of the room trying to not put any weight on his right foot, that was still hurting badly.

During the last two days a lot of things had occurred.

A lot of people, friends of Tony had lost their lives, there had almost been a third world war and … he had kissed Michelle.

Suddenly a smile appeared on his face.

He still couldn't believe that it had really happened.

Since Michelle had started at CTU two months ago this was all he wanted, to kiss her and touch her.

Today it became true.

And yet he felt kinda strange. He couldn't help but ask himself what she was thinking about all this.

She didn't seem sorry for what happened but still… But why didn't he told her that he would love to go out with her, love to spend some time with her besides work? Instead he told her that he would see her tomorrow…at work.

Could it be anymore unclear?

How could he say that? To Michelle, the woman he had fallen in love with ever since she had been introduced to him?

He felt like kicking his own butt for this.

He should talk to her tomorrow…and clear his intentions once and for all…and maybe ask her out for dinner and a movie like she'd offered before.

When Michelle opened her eyes, the sun had already risen and was covering her whole bedroom in a bright yellowish light.

She pulled back her blanket and took a look at the clock on the wall.

Even though she had slept through, which she hardly could, her head was still pounding like yesterday when she got home.

She decided to take a quick shower because she had to be at work in about two hours.

Michelle got out of her pyjamas and turned on the hot water.

When the water finally ran over her body she had to sigh, because this always made her headache go away…this and Tony.

She remembered the other day a few weeks ago, when she had been at work for like 30 hours straight. Her head was hurting like hell. But the worst was that it had been Tony's day off and when he got to CTU she was ready to leave. But just in these five minutes she needed to bring him up to speed, her head stopped hurting; instead, she was feeling so good like never before.

Now she was looking forward to seeing him again. Without the anxiety of a nuke or a terrorist threat.

She turned off the water and wrapped a big towel around her body.

When she looked into the mirror, she saw how tired she still looked.

Then she realized that she was touching her lips with her right thumb. She couldn't stop smiling at the thought of kissing Tony again.

A shiver ran through her whole body when she thought about their kiss earlier.

When she met him a few months ago, she never even thought that this could happen, or would.

Her heart was racing again.

Why was he making her nervous? How could just the thought of Tony make her feel dizzy?

When Michelle left her apartment 90 minutes later she was wearing the best outfit she had for office. And it had taken her about half an hour to find an outfit she felt comfortable in, and something she looked good in. She just hoped Tony would notice her clothing.

She had taken a black tight skirt, which was a little shorter than the one she wore yesterday, and she had taken a light red blouse with sleeves that went till her elbows.

And she had put on some of her favorite perfume.

On the way to CTU, she tried to stay calm and not to feel nervous, but when she entered the major hallway, it was all in vain.

Tony was talking to an agent, leaning against the desk next to him when he noticed Michelle entering CTU.

He noticed that she had done something new with her hair.

She had bent some strains back with a small ribbon and a few strains were hanging loose. And the blouse she was wearing made her look even more beautiful.

"Tony?" someone cut him out off his thoughts.

"Yeah?" he turned back to the agent he was talking to and added,

"Uh…we should start a type B protocol for this."

"Okay."

"Let me know when you are set.", he said, and then started to walk away.

He glanced over the whole hallway looking for Michelle but he couldn't spot her anywhere.

When he arrived at her desk he saw her purse laying next to her jacket.

" Oh…Tony?" the blonde girl next to him turned to the side.

"Yup?"

"Brad Hammond called. He wants you to call him ASAP."

"Thank you." He took a last look on Michelle's desk, sighed and then went over to his office.

When he came home yesterday he went straight to bed. But even though he was tired, he couldn't fall asleep within two hours.

He could only think about Michelle and their kiss.

When he finally managed to fall asleep he had some weird dreams about the last day. But he couldn't remember anything now, he just knew it had been a weird night of weird dreams.

But when he got up this morning he took a shower and felt good again, and also he was a little bit nervous about meeting Michelle.

When he arrived at the last step, he reached out for the door as he suddenly noticed someone standing in front of him.

It was Michelle.

Tony noticed that Michelle was wearing a necklace, with a small heart.

When he noticed that he was staring at her neck, he rose his head and saw her smile, the smile that he loved so much.

"Hey." She said.

"Hey." He answered smiling.

"I need to talk to you." Michelle finally pressed out and was hoping he wouldn't notice her unusual fast heartbeat.

"Uh…sure…Now?"

She nodded slightly, almost unremarkably.

"Uh…I've got a call to make that can't wait…unfortunately."

"Oh, of course. No problem. We can talk later." She smiled friendly and went downstairs to her desk.

He watched her walk away until she arrived at her desk and sat down. It seemed like his head had gotten hotter so he took a deep breath and went inside his office.

When Michelle sat down she turned around a bit so she could watch Tony from the corner of her eyes.

She stayed like this for a minute and when she turned to her screen she suddenly realized how deeply she had already fallen in love with him.

Because right now, all she wanted was to walk into his office and kiss him again.

Tony hung up the phone and leaned back, sighing.

The day was going to get very stressful for him. He was about to call the secretary of state and he had to initiate a co-op, and he had to take care of the CTU's rebuilt. Not to mention the computers that were needed and weren't working yet.

He looked down the hall and spotted Michelle talking to a maintanance man.

He couldn't believe how beautiful she looked today. Usually she looked really good, but today she looked great!

His heartbeat increased, and he felt the blood streaming into his face.

He had already fallen in love with her so much, and yet it seemed like he felt in love with her more and more with each day.

He reached out for the phone and dialled 2039 … her number.

"Hello?" Michelle answered after two rings.

"It's me." He simply stated.

When Michelle heard Tony's voice her heart stopped beating for a single second.

"I need you to start an operation-delta-protocol."

She wrote it down.

"I just got off the phone with Brad Hammond. Division is sending 3 more IT-people over within the next hour. Could you take them over and fill them in?"

"Of course." She said smiling.

"They are supposed to work with Stevenson, so make sure they get a Level 4."

"Alright…anything else?", she asked and hoped he would take the first step.

After a moment he answered,

"Not so far. Anything about the processors in the IT-room?"

"They are making progress but they need two more hours to configurate it."

"Okay. Thanks.", he sighed.

"Tony?"

"Yeah?"

She turned around in her seat and took a look at him upstairs.

"Could you … uh…about earlier…"

"Uh yeah. I don't have any time right now. Sorry" he cut her off.

"Okay." She obviously was disappointed.

"I promise you I'll call you when I get some space, okay?" he smiled.

"Thanks." Then they hung up.

Michelle turned to her screen and sighed. Somehow she had the feeling that he didn't want to talk to her.

She forced herself to stop thinking about it, and decided that she was going to talk to him, no matter what. She just couldn't spend another day not knowing what he wanted.

She just couldn't.

Tony hated himself. Even though he really didn't have any time to talk to her, he still felt like an idiot. She must have had the feeling that he didn't want to talk to her, but he did.

Actually, that was all he wanted.

He dialled the number of the secretary of state, and then decided that even if he had just one minute to talk to her today, he would take the chance.

He wanted to tell her that he would love to go out with her, and he just hoped that she hadn't changed her mind about that yet.

A few hours later, Tony was sitting in his office and he'd just ended a call and was now turning off his screen.

He took a breath and stood up, he'd never thought that being the director would mean to spend all the day on the phone.

When he went downstairs his glance wandered almost unintentionally to Michelle's desk.

There she was, typing on her keyboard, looking still breathtaking and gorgeous.

Michelle hated this work. Writing one report after another, she had been sitting at her desk for over two hours and was facing at least one hour more.

She stretched a little bit and rubbed her bare hand over her neck.

"You okay?" Tony appeared behind her, sitting down on her desk right next to her.

"Yeah…just sitting here for hours makes my back feel like a stone." She smiled shrugging.

"What are you doing anyway?" he took a look at her screen.

"Chapelle wants me to do these – probably some kind of punishment." She grinned.

He had to smile too. They really had sedated Ryan yesterday.

"So…You got some time, then?"

"Yeah, it is no priority."

"Cause I got some time now."

"Oh…good." She felt her head getting red.

"So…about yesterday…" He wiped over his forehead.

"Yeah." She agreed.

"Sorry for putting you on the spot like that, but I just wanted to know what you think." she quickly added.

"Michelle…I can…" the phone cut him off.

Michelle sighed loud and picked it up.

"Dessler."

Tony cleared his throat and watched her while she was talking.

He somehow was glad about the interruption because he didn't really know what to tell her.

Furthermore, he did not know what she was going to tell him.

Maybe it would be better to let this subject go, but honestly it was the last thing he wanted.

Instead, he wanted to tell her about his feelings, and he wanted to kiss her right now.

"That was Carl from Division. Hammond wants us to send them some data and the updates. But the processors aren't working properly yet. So someone needs to drive over to them and this someone turned out to be me."

"Can't you just send a messenger?"

"No…they also want a report." She shrugged.

"Alright, when are you gonna leave?"

"Now." She simply stated.

"Okay…uh… So, see you later, then." He smiled pitiful.

"Yeah." She sighed.

Tony went back upstairs but turned around halfway watching Michelle taking a laptop and a bunch of folders.

Suddenly he remembered how worried he'd been about her after the explosion. But when he heard her voice he could finally concentrate on work again. And then this whole thing with Carrie -he didn't want her to feel bad and he also couldn't stand it when she was sad.

"Hey, Tony! We need you over at IT! We've got a problem!" someone yelled from downstairs.

"Coming." He answered and just hoped this day would be over soon, so he could finally talk to her.

It was 12.10 pm when Michelle left CTU, and now it was already 4.40 pm.

She was heading back to CTU in a black SUV and was waiting at a red light.

The meeting at Division had taken longer then she wanted.

Worst of all was that her headache was coming back, along with tiredness.

Her glance wandered across the car and spotted her cell and the next second she was dialling Tony's number.

"CTU." A female voice answered.

Michelle was so perplexed that she didn't respond.

"Hello?"

"Uh…it's Michelle. Is Tony around?"

"Yeah, but he's not able to talk right now."

"Why?"

"We got a problem in the IT-room. Tony's trying to handle the situation." The woman explained then added,

"It is like a freak house over here."

"Okay…could you tell him I'll be back in a few minutes?"

"Yes." Then they hung up.

A few minutes later, Michelle entered the parking lot and left her car on it's designated space.

When she arrived at the main entrance, she realized the chaos inside. A lot of people were running around and someone was yelling something about a CPU from upstairs.

She passed by a bunch of people and almost ran into Tony.

"Oh, sorry …" she murmured.

"You are back!" he wiped over his forehead seeming nervous and exhausted.

"Just got here…Tony, what is going on here?"

"One of this IT-guys screwed up everything…we had to shut down half of our system."

"What do you need me to do?"

Tony took a look at his watch,

"Aren't you supposed to leave at 5?"

"Yes…but …now?"

"The next shift will be here by 7.", he shrugged.

"Then I'll go…so, now, what can I do?" she gave him a determined look.

"Alright, I got an important appointment at District in an hour. We should have taken care of this problem until then. Could you help out in the IT with the server update?"

"Okay." She nodded shortly and then went over to IT, past the hallway where they'd kissed two days ago…then her smile faded. She would be working on the update for at least one hour, and he'd probably leave for his appointment in half an hour. And then there were her 4 days off. And that meant they wouldn't have time to talk today, and would probably never talk about it.

Even though she dropped that thought as fast as she could, it still was on her mind.

They would find a way…and now she had to concentrate on work.

When she left IT again, it was 7.30 and she hadn't seen Tony since she got back. He now was at District, so Michelle took her purse, then took a last look at his office to make sure he was really gone, then went out to her car and headed home.

She arrived at her apartment complex just 15 minutes later, but she didn't enter the parking lot. Instead she pulled around and headed downtown.

She just couldn't accept that they hadn't talked – and so she would drive over to his apartment and would finally talk to him.

When Tony arrived home it was way later then he hoped it would be.

He prayed during his meeting at District that he'd be home by 8 but now it was 9.15 and he'd missed soccer!

And the even worse part was that it was probably too late to call Michelle.

Just then, he saw someone sitting on the steps in front of his apartment on the first floor and stopped halfway.

After he had carefully sneaked nearer, he recognized that a woman was leaning against the wall, sleeping.

It was Michelle.

He went up to her and watched her for a second.

How long had she been waiting?

He carefully touched her arm,

"Michelle?"

She opened her eyes surprised and stared at him with sleepy eyes.

"Tony?" she asked confused then sat up and remembered where she was.

"Hey." He sat down next to her.

Michelle tried to manage her hair, lowered her head and stared at her feet trying to get invisible.

"You okay?" he looked worried.

"Yeah…what time is it?"

"It is 9.15 … how long have you been here?"

"About an hour." Michelle was still staring at the floor.

"Why are you here?" his voice was softly and caring.

She lifted her head finally and looked at him with an almost fearful look, but didn't answer.

"Michelle?"

"I'm sorry…this was a bad idea. I shouldn't have come here." She stood up, hesitated for a moment, then wanted to walk away as suddenly as Tony grabbed her hand.

"Wait." He whispered.

There was not a chance he was letting her go now.

Michelle didn't turn around her eyes filling with tears and Tony was still holding her hand tight. Not willing to let her go. They remained like that in silence for a few seconds then she broke the silence,

"Maybe I should go now."

She took another step away, but he still didn't let go off her hand.

"I think you should stay." He said quietly.

The tears rolled down her cheek as she turned around, looking at him in desperation,

"Tony…"

He didn't answer but stepped down to her and looked at her, his face just inches away.

Michelle could feel his warm breath on her face, that sent shivers all over her body.

None of them moved until Tony grabbed her face with his hands, wiping away her tears carefully.

"I am glad that you are here." He smiled.

"You are?" she seemed to be surprised.

Instead of an answer he started to kiss her softly.

The kiss became more and more intense.

Tony was holding her tight and she'd wrapped her arms around his neck, tickled by his hair.

When they separated, Michelle leaned against the wall behind her, and both of them were breathing hard, not breaking eye contact.

"Wow." Michelle whispered.

"Yeah." Tony agreed smiling brightly.

Michelle smiled all over her face, fiddling with her sleeve, still looking at Tony.

"So…that's what you wanted to talk about?" he grinned.

"Kind of." She shrugged and felt that her head was getting red. She quickly broke eye contact and lowered her head.

Tony stepped forward and pulled her chin carefully up again,

"Don't." he was smiling softly.

Michelle gave him an uneasy look, so he leaned forward and started to kiss her again.

When his lips touched hers again the shivers started to flush through her again, but this time even more intensely.

She could feel how she started to shake slightly.

Michelle totally gave in to the kiss and couldn't think anymore. Everything turned upside down.

Tony pulled her tighter and could feel her heartbeat increasing. When he touched a small part of bare skin at her hips, he felt butterflies in his stomach.

Her skin felt so soft and hot.

He couldn't believe he was kissing Michelle, because ever since he'd met her that was all he'd wanted.

When they broke apart he noticed that Michelle was shivering.

"Are you cold?" he asked caringly taking her hands into his.

"I don't know." She pressed out smiling brightly.

"Okay…come on." He said and pulled her upstairs.

"What are you…" she was cut off when he stopped in front of his apartment.

Tony put the keys into the lock and opened the door, pulling her inside. She suddenly took her hand back and stepped back.

"I should go now."

"Michelle…it is cold outside. C'mon in." he said and then finally pulled her in.

When he closed the door, she looked around and noticed that Tony's apartment wasn't exactly what she had thought it would be.

Instead, it looked great.

Every time she'd been in a boy's apartment it had been messy or the furniture didn't match but everything looked like a catalogue in there. He had arranged his cupboard with his couch and it just looked great.

He must have noticed her staring as he said,

"You are surprised, aren't you?"

"Yeah…I mean I would have never expected you to have such a nice apartment."

"Thanks."

"No…I didn't mean it like that, but most guys don't have…well …nice apartments. But this is great!"

"What can I say. I like it this way." He shrugged grinning and went out.

"I like it." She said and went to his cupboard where he'd placed some pictures.

He came back carrying a blanket and went over to her.

"This is my sister and my mother." He pointed to a photo and then gave her the blanket.

"Thank you." She took it and wrapped it around her shoulders.

"Sit down on the couch, I'm gonna make us some tea."

"You don't need to make tea." she said, sitting down.

"That's okay, and I don't want you to freeze." He said and went to the kitchen.

Michelle leaned back on the couch and wrapped herself up into the blanket inhaling it's smell. It smelled like Tony, and she had to smile. She'd never noticed this smell before but now she just knew it was his.

A few minutes later he came back with two mugs and placed them in front of her on the table. He sat down next to her.

Michelle sat up yawning…she'd almost dozen off in the last minutes. She quickly took a sip of her tea and noticed that she'd taken his mug.

"Oh…sorry."

"Never mind." He said and took hers instead.

Michelle saw that he'd given her his CUBS-mug.

"How many of these do you have?"

"Two. One for home and one for work." He grinned.

"I feel so honoured." She said laughing.

"You'd better be careful with it, then!" he said trying to hide a smile.

"I promise." She was still laughing.

Michelle leaned back again turning her head to Tony.

"Tony?"

"Uh?" he put his mug back on the table and leaned back to her.

"Do you really want this?"

He started to smile then leaned over and kissed her again. This threw Michelle off her shoes, but after a second she joined and slid over to him.

At first Michelle couldn't open her eyes right away; instead, she started to smile when she leaned back again.

Her heart was racing and she was breathing hard again.

When she finally opened her eyes, she saw Tony smiling too.

"Is that a yes?" she grinned.

"Uhm, actually…"

"Tony!" she gave him a horrified look.

"Just kidding. Listen, you are here, right? And I really like to spend time with you…so yeah, I really want this." He smiled again.

"I like to spend time with you too." She answered.

"Would you like something to eat? I could make some pasta." he said.

"Yeah, why not?" she said and took another sip of her tea. Slowly she was getting warm again…partly due to Tony.

"Alright, could you give me a hand in the kitchen?" he stood up, took his mug and went over to the kitchen.

She stood up, laid down the blanket and followed him.

Leaning against the doorframe she wrapped her fingers around the mug.

"Uhm, it probably would be better if I didn't help you."

"Why?" he looked at her holding a pan and a pot.

"I would just ruin the food."

"You can't cook?" he seemed utterly surprised.

"Let's just say, that the expression "can't cook" is a harmless way to define it." She shrugged.

"Okay, then you could do the pasta. There is nothing easier then boiling water and putting in the pasta." He handed her the pot that was filled with water and she put it on it's designated space on the stove.

She watched him for some time while he was cutting the tomatoes and the herbals. He looked so different being here then he did at work. More relaxed, and happier. There was no doubt he loved his job, but who wouldn't start to enjoy the time off when having a job like they had?

It ate up your private life like a hungry monster. Michelle had barely spent time in her apartment lately. That's why she was taking 4 days off, from tomorrow on. Now she really regretted it, because meant she wouldn't see him …unless …

"I think you can put the noodles in now." He cut her out off her thoughts indicating on the package next to her.

She cut it open with a scissor and carefully put it into the boiling water.

Tony went over to her and put a pan next to the pot with the noodles. He put in the tomatoes and water.

"So far, you're doing a great job." He teased.

"Thank you, but better hold up with compliments until it's done." She grinned.

They remained in silence for a moment as he suddenly burst out,

"What kind of music do you like?"

"I...uh…the Counting Crows?" that was all she could come up with.

He looked at her for a second, then turned around, went out of the kitchen and came back two minutes later, and the song "Closer to you" started to play.

Michelle looked at him in surprise, then smiled friendly on his grin.

Tony was incredibly happy tonight. He was standing in his kitchen- with Michelle. The woman he'd met a few months ago at CTU and who he'd fallen in love with from the beginning. And the woman he'd dreamed of so often ever since.

The last woman he'd dreamed of happened to be Nina Meyers…the woman who had betrayed him and her country, who'd killed Jack's wife.

He was wondering if his bad luck would come back with Michelle. He'd never had a long-term relationship. And after he found out about Nina, he'd sworn himself to never fall in love again with someone from work.

Then he met Michelle. And how could he not fall in love with her? She was intelligent, beautiful and … everything he'd ever dreamed of. His glance wandered over to her.

Maybe he got lucky this time.

Michelle was staring at the water, sunken in her own thoughts, she didn't notice that Tony was watching her.

Standing next to him it seemed they had known each other for a long time.

She really enjoyed being with him outside work.

He was special.

Thinking about the last years, her love life hadn't been … a real love life.

She had dated a guy once over at district two years ago.

But Greg had turned out to be just a regular male she'd already known. He'd taken her out twice and then he'd intended to sleep with her and for the little naïve girl she was, she did. One of the biggest mistakes of her life. Because right after that she learned he was married and now every time she saw him she felt like a traitor.

The other guys weren't even worth mentioning and so she'd never had one single relationship that had lasted longer then two months.

When George Mason introduced her to Tony the day she started at CTU she knew he was different. He was one of these guys who didn't start to flirt right away. He'd treated her with respect.

And somehow Tony seemed to be different in other ways too.

He'd been her rock during the last days, he had told her they would survive and somehow she believed him uncompromisingly. He'd kept her going and had stopped her from giving up.

But without George Mason, she probably wouldn't be here tonight.

He didn't just save millions of lives he also saved her life.

George was the real hero.

A tear appeared in her eye and she quickly wiped it away.

"Michelle!" a loud yell brought her back to reality.

Tony had pushed her to the side and was moving the pot over the water that was spilled all over the stove.

Then he turned to Michelle, who was still starring at him, confused.

He went over to her and took her hands looking at them,

"Did you burn your hands?" he asked worried.

When she noticed she was starring at him, she quickly lowered her head and whispered,

"No. I'm fine."

"Good." He sighed relieved.

"Thank you." She smiled guiltful.

"Alright. How about that? You set the table and I am gonna finish this?"

She nodded slightly, still shocked.

"Hey, it's okay. Nothing happened." He tried to comfort her but she just gave him a sad look and went out.

Five minutes later they were sitting at the table, eating in silence.

"Are you okay?" he asked laying his hand on hers.

"You know… I was just thinking about Mason."

"Why?" of course he knew why.

"When you told me about him, that he would die…I went up to his office and we talked. And he told me that I should find something that would make me happy. And right after that I asked you out." She looked up on him and smiled.

He almost let fall his fork out of surprise.

"So…without him I wouldn't be here."

"I can't believe he'd say something like that."

"He did, and somehow he saved my life twice." She smiled slightly.

He put down his fork and took her hands,

"He saved mine twice, too." he took a deep breath and added,

"Listen, Michelle. I really want this to work…us."

"Me, too." She said then she leaned over the table and kissed him.

Later they were standing in the kitchen, cleaning up.

Tony was putting the plates into the dishwasher and Michelle was putting the tomatoes back into the fridge.

She was leaning against the doorframe when Tony closed the dishwasher, watching her.

"You should wear more red. You really look gorgeous in red." He went over to her.

She looked down and tried to find a new topic as he suddenly started to fiddle with her curls.

"Michelle?"

"Yes?" she looked up at him.

"Could you promise me to never get rid of your curls?"

She looked at him in surprise mixed with confusion about his words, as he suddenly started to kiss her passionately.

There they were again, the shivers all over her body. Kissing him just felt great, and with each time it became more and more intense. And she couldn't tell anymore where she was. All she could tell was, that she had deeply fallen in love with him.

Tony wrapped his arms around her hips and could feel her warmth through her cloths. It made him shake slightly, and he felt like he was on drugs because she made him feel like he was flying. At least that was how he imagined being on drugs.

Both were smiling at each other when they separated. Michelle stepped back as the clock on the wall fell into her glance.

"It's really late. I'd better go now."

"There is no way I am going to let you go now. It is way too late and you are too tired to drive home now. It is a 20 minute ride."

"I can turn on loud music and leave the window open." She suggested.

"C'mon Michelle. Be reasonable. You can sleep here."

"That is not necessary, Tony."

"I insist. You can take my bed and I will sleep on the couch."

"Tony…"

"That's an order." He grinned.

Finally she gave up and nodded slightly.

"Good. The bedroom is over there, next to the bathroom. There is a fresh blanket on the bed."

"Thank you." She smiled and went to the room he'd just pointed to.

Ten minuets later she was laying in Tony's bed as he knocked on the door.

"Everything's all right?" he asked from outside.

"Yes." She responded.

"Okay. In case you need anything, I am in the living room. Good night, Michelle."

"Good night."

She pulled the blanket up to her chin.

It was almost midnight and even though she was tired she couldn't fall asleep right away. She just thought about this evening and where she was now.

A bright smile appeared on her face. Maybe it would really work out this time.

She hoped for it, because she'd already fallen in love with Tony too much to let go off this.

Tony was sitting on the couch swallowing the last sip of his water. He couldn't even believe Michelle was laying in his bed right now.

Then he remembered that he wouldn't see her for the next days, due to her vacation.

Maybe he just should ask her out tomorrow morning before he left for work.

And maybe she would say yes.

But he wanted to find out.

When he opened his eyes again it took him a few seconds to realize where he was.

He quickly stood up and saw that he'd only have one hour until he had to leave for work. He went to the bathroom and took a quick shower.

When he got out of the shower a throbbing pain flushed through his right ankle. He'd totally forgotten about that.

It already seemed so far away. The whole day seemed to be covered up in a thick shadow. All he still could remember crystal clear was Michelle … when she was tired, afraid and devastated he tried to comfort her and all that had led to this. She was sleeping in his bed.

Michelle was woken up by a quiet knock.

"Yeah?" she opened her eyes not knowing where she was.

"Michelle? I've made some breakfast and coffee. Do you want to join me before I have to leave for work?"

Then she recognized his voice and suddenly everything was back.

"Sounds good." She said yawning and pushed back the blanket getting out of his bed.

She couldn't wait to see him again and quickly gathered her cloth and went to the bathroom.

Looking at the mirror she noticed that her hair had gone wild during the night. She tried to comb it with her fingers and finally decided to bend it together.

She splashed some cold water into her face and dried it with a towel.

Michelle was still tired but also incredibly happy.

During the last weeks she'd imagined how it would be to be with Tony outside CTU, and now she realized it was way better then she could've ever imagined.

She really started to regret that she had taken some days off. Maybe she should ask him if he'd like to do something tomorrow.

Michelle entered the kitchen and saw that Tony was sitting there reading the newspaper. He looked great like always, she thought. He was wearing a dark red shirt and black pants.

She sat down across him and took a big swallow of her coffee.

Tony folded the paper and put it down on a chair.

"Did you sleep well?"

"Yes…thank you." She nodded and hoped she wouldn't look too tired.

"Here." He handed her a plate with French toast.

"Thank you." She took a toast and put it on her plate.

"What are you…"

"Would you like …"

Both started at the same time and stopped smiling.

"Sorry, go ahead." She quickly said.

"I just wanted to know if you'd like to have dinner tomorrow." He said smiling.

A bright smile appeared in her face,

"That'd be really nice."

"What did you wanted to ask?"

"Uhm…I wanted to ask if you would like to go see a movie this week." She smiled shy.

"Oh…then we should have dinner and a movie tomorrow." He said.

"Great." She smiled too, biting another piece off her toast.

"Okay, I'm gonna pick you up at 6?"

"Perfect." She answered.

"Good." He took a look at his watch and stood up,

"Listen, uh … I gotta go to work. Just stay and have another cup of coffee. You can just close the door when you leave."

She nodded.

"Okay…Bye."

"Bye."

Tony took his jacket and a pack of folders he'd placed next to his computer and went to the door.

Before he closed it after him he took a last look at Michelle, who was reading the newspaper.

He hesitated a second then closed the door.

Michelle looked up when the door closed. She was disappointed, somewhat sad, that he hadn't given her a kiss.

Maybe it would be better to start it slowly.

Putting away the newspaper again she poured herself another cup of coffee, as suddenly the door opened and Tony came in again.

"Forgot something?" she asked.

"Yes." He went straight over to her and kissed her.

This was way better then to take it slowly, she thought smiling as they separated.

"Alright…Now I really gotta go! See you tomorrow at 6!" he smiled at her and then left the apartment.

Michelle was standing in the middle of the living room. Stunned.

He'd really come back just to kiss her goodbye.

She had to smile.

This was going to work out, she felt deep inside.

She had never had this feeling before and yet she knew what it meant.

Michelle had just gotten home a few minutes ago, and she was already looking through her closet almost devastated for not finding anything.

She tried different things on and off again and after she'd worn every possible piece of clothes, she sat down on her bed, disappointed.

She had nothing. Her closet had been filled with a lot of clothes for the office during the last years. There were skirts and pants in black and blouses but nothing that would throw Tony off his feet on their first date.

She pushed her hangers to the side and suddenly spotted a light rose viscose skirt sprinkled with small red flowers in the back of her closet.

A big smile appeared on her face. She had bought this skirt just a month ago, out of the blue.

She quickly put it on and looked down on her mirror – this was just perfect for their first date!

Damn you Tony, he cursed himself as he entered CTU again, it was already 5.25 pm.

He'd already been on his way home, when he got the call from Chapelle calling him back in.

He just hoped it wouldn't take him too long, because he still needed to get home and change.

For his date with Michelle tonight.

"Tony! I am glad I reached you – we got a problem with an interrogation. Remember Robert Stevens?"

"Yeah. Our co-ops got him last week."

"Right, he went straight to prison and they tried to break him there but they figured that it wouldn't work so they sent him over. And because you are the only one with a sufficient security level and also you were the tactical leader during this operation, we need you for the interrogation."

"Now?"

"Yeah...Division wants this to be done by tomorrow."

"Ryan...I am off."

"Sorry, Tony. We couldn't reach Hawkins."

"What about you?"

"I've got an appointment."

"But this will take me the whole night." He remembered the Stevens case, this man was an ex-marine and no one could break him in less then three hours.

"Sorry...I'll write this down as over time." He gave him an odd smile and went out.

This was bad. Really bad.

He looked on his watch. It was 5.30. In half an hour he was supposed to pick up Michelle, and there was no way he was going to make it.

He went over to a desk took the phone but hesitated. Cancelling was the last thing he wanted right now.

At these times he hated to work for CTU. Finally he started to dial her number as someone called his name from behind.

Tony hung up and turned around,

"John, what are you doing here?" John Hawkins was walking over to him breathing hard.

"Chapelle left me a message. I just got it and came over. Where is he?"

"He left."

"Do you know what he'd wanted?"

"It was about Robert Stevens – Division wants us to interrogate him."

"All right, where is he?"

"Chapelle already signed me on. Even though ..."

"What?"

"Nothing. I just...I've got a date in about half an hour."

"Alright...I'm going to take over."

"You sure?"

"I have to do some office stuff anyway...go and let me do that."

"Thank you so much John. I owe you one."

"Must be a great girl." John grinned sheepish.

Tony took his jacket and gave him a bright smile and nodded shortly.

Then he hurried to get to his car.

He had only 29 minutes left, so he decided to drive straight over to Michelle.

Michelle was standing in front of the mirror taking a last look into it.

She was wearing the rose skirt and a thin black pullover and a light blue coat over it.

She'd put on her sling-pumps and the matching purse.

She had also bent her hair together at the back of her head to a knot and just had pulled out some loose curls.

"Perfect." She whispered to herself smiling. Then she took a look at her watch.

It was 5 minutes to 6 and she was really getting nervous.

She'd spend the last two days trying not to think about tonight, but cleaning up her apartment, running errands and writing some reports hadn't helped at all.

After the shower she'd taken two hours ago she'd lighted up a little, but just half an hour ago the nervousness came back full.

"Calm down" she told herself once again and took a last look into the mirror, then went out.

She sat down on her couch, but just a second later she stood up again and went to her window.

It was 6.05 when a car entered the parking lot, and Tony finally got out of his car. He ran quickly over to her apartment.

Michelle stepped back from the window and waited for the doorbell.

But instead he knocked twice and Michelle counted to 5 then slowly went to the door and opened it,

"You're a little late."

When he saw Michelle, Tony couldn't say a word, he was too stunned. She looked so beautiful.

"I…uh…sorry. Got held up at the office. You look great!" he managed to say.

"Thank you." She answered shy.

"Are you ready to go?"

"Yes."

Then Michelle took her keys and followed him to his car.

"So…where are we going?" she asked getting into the car.

"There is a small theatre downtown and they play this movie "The fabulous world of Amelie" and afterwards we're going to a restaurant. But that'll be a surprise." He smiled and turned on the engine.

"Cool." She was leaning back in her seat when he left the parking lot.

"Uh…do you enjoy your days off so far?" he asked after a long silence.

If it means to have stomachaches all day because of the date with my boss then it is a no she thought, and then said,

"It's really quiet."

He laughed,

"Yeah, sometimes it even bothers me when it is too quiet."

"Yes. But it is nice not to think about some terrorists blowing off a building or something for while."

"That's right…oh here we are." They entered a back street where he parked the car.

They got out of the car and walked down the street until they arrived at a sign that said "Theatre" and just five minutes later they were sitting inside.

There were just two more girls inside who were sitting in the front part but Tony and Michelle took the last row.

"What kind of movie is it?" Michelle turned to Tony.

"It is a French movie about a woman who lives in Paris, but to be honest that is all I know." He shrugged.

"It is really nice here." Michelle leaned back and looked around.

He wanted to say something but then the film started and it went black around them.

About an hour later Michelle's hand was resting dangerously near his hand on the edge of the seat.

She was wondering if she could lay her head on his shoulder. She hesitated for a second but then almost unintentionally she laid down. She had to smile and took a deep breath when he wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

When the film was over they went out of the building and he stopped in front of it.

"A really good movie." She told him closing her coat.

He nodded smiling.

"So…where is that restaurant?"

"Right over there." He pointed to a building about 200 meters away with a sign saying "The Brazilian".

"A Brazilian restaurant?" she was surprised.

"Yeah." They went down the street and he added,

"Do you like that?"

"I love it." She said nodding.

When they entered the restaurant, Michelle took of her coat and looked around.

"Looks like we are the only ones."

"Yeah, because it is not open today." He grinned.

Michelle looked at him, confused.

"Antonio!" a small bald-headed man came over to them smiling brightly.

"Olá Pablo." Tony said and gave him a hug.

"Como vai?" Tony asked in Portuguese.

"I am good my friend." Pablo answered in English.

"This is Michelle. … Michelle, this is Pablo, an old friend of mine."

Michelle shook hands with him, still seeming confused about something.

"Boa noite Michelle. Nice to finally meet you." He winked at her, speaking with an accent.

"Nice to meet you, too." She managed to say.

"All right, Antonio. Your table is all set up. I'll be with you in a minute." He turned to Tony and pointed to a table in the middle of the restaurant enlightened with candles.

"Thank you." Tony smiled at him and then Michelle and him went to their table.

"I didn't know that you could speak Portuguese." Michelle sat down across Tony, finally speaking out what had surprised her so much.

"I am not fluent." He shrugged it off.

"Where do you know him from?"

"He is an old friend of the family. I've known him from my childhood on."

"And I can tell you a lot of things about this boy." Pablo came over to them caring a basket of bread, grinning.

Michelle smiled but when she saw Tony's uneasy face she quickly said,

"Maybe next time."

"Fine with me. Dinner will be served in 10 minutes. I am in the kitchen if you need anything." He also placed a bottle of red wine next to Tony and disappeared.

Michelle smiled at Tony. He could tell she was enjoying this as much as he was.

This could be the beginning of something great for both of them.

"You're surprising me. How did you know that I like Brazilian food?"

"I've read your file when I hired you." He grinned sheepish and opened the wine.

"Of course!" she laughed.

He poured her some wine into her glass and then himself.

"So…you grew up in LA?"

"Actually...no. I was born in Chicago but we moved here when I was 14. That is when I met Pablo. Each summer I helped out in here until graduation."

"He seems to be nice."

She took a sip of her wine and smiled at him.

They talked a lot during the evening, had a delicious meal, and both of them were having a great time being there with each other.

Tony told Michelle about his youth and she talked about her years in Seattle and the time at District.

They both were enjoying the talks and it just felt like the perfect date with the perfect person.

Michelle put the last spoonful of cake into her mouth and leaned back,

"I am so full."

"Yeah, me too."

"It was delicious. We should come here again." She emptied her water glass and smiled at him.

Then they went over and took their coats where Pablo was already waiting.

"Thank you for this delicious meal." Michelle shook hands with him.

"Next time I'll make you more." He grinned.

"Tenha uma boa noite. Have a nice evening." He waved at them and Tony went out to hold open the door for Michelle as Pablo said,

"Tony?"

Tony stepped nearer and Pablo added,

"Ela é linda."

"Yeah…she is."

"Take good care of her."

"I will. Bye Pablo. See you." He gave him a hug and then followed Michelle.

"What did he say to you?" Michelle smiled at him.

"Uh…he just said he liked you." He hesitated.

She gave him a questionable look.

"Really." He grinned.

"If you say so."

"Yeah…all right let's get back to the car. Over there." He pointed down the street and started to walk.

Suddenly he felt her hand folding with his pulling him back slightly.

She was smiling at him shyly. But when she saw him smiling too she leaned against him and they slowly walked down the street in silence.

When he wanted to let go off her hand in front of the car she pulled him back and started to kiss him softly.

About twenty minutes later they were walking up the stairs to Michelle's apartment in silence, sunken in their own thoughts about tonight.

When she stopped in front of her door he let go off her hand and pulled out the keys.

"It was a wonderful night, Tony. I'd like to do that more often." She turned back at him and narrowed her eyes slightly to see him in the dark.

"Yeah…I'd like that too."

She stepped forward and started to kiss him again, this time with more passion.

Her hand slowly wandered behind her and she opened the door pulling him inside without letting go off him.

She started to get rid of his coat and kicked off her shoes.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and his hands slowly moved down to her hips where they touched a small piece of bare skin.

Michelle winced and held her breath for a second then started to kiss his neck and unbuttoned his shirt.

"Michelle?" he whispered his eyes still closed.

"Uhu…?" she didn't stopped kissing his neck so he slightly pushed her away forcing her to open her eyes.

She looked at him, his shirt almost unbuttoned she could hardly force herself to stop touching him but he looked at her, somewhat worried.

"Are you sure you want to do this?"

She took a deep breath, stepped forward and opened the last button. She rose her head and smiled at him before she started to kiss him even more intensively.

"I'll take that as a yes." He got rid of his shirt and her hands moved slowly over his chest, she was grinning.

Then Michelle took his hand and pulled him into her bedroom, where they sat down at the edge of her bed, not breaking the eye contact.

She took off her pullover and lied down in front of him.

Tony himself laid down next to her his fingers touching the warm skin of her chest.

"I can't tell you how long I've waited for this." He whispered kissing her ear.

"Yeah…I know what you mean." She groaned smiling.

He started to kiss her again and she became dizzy even though her eyes were closed she felt like she was in a roller coaster.

All the tension that'd grown between them throughout the months they'd been working together was laying in this single kiss.

And none of them was willing to fight that back anymore.

When Michelle opened her eyes the sun had already covered her bed with bright light.

She slowly turned around and found herself laying right next to Tony who was smiling at her, his head stemmed on his hand,

"Good morning sleepy head."

"What time is it?" she asked sleepy stretching her legs.

"8.15. And unfortunately I gotta leave in the next 15 minutes."

Her smile faded and she quickly cuddled up on his chest where she laid down so he could wrap his arm around her shoulder.

"Why don't you just call Chapelle and tell him that you're sick?"

"Sorry." He kissed her head.

"I don't want you to leave."

"And I don't wanna go. But I have to." He stroked her shoulder with his fingers.

She sighed hard and slid even closer to him.

"What about this? I'm gonna take a day off tomorrow – we could do something then."

She looked up on him and a big smile appeared on her face.

Tony grabbed it and started to kiss her.

He got out of the bed and put on his clothes. Michelle sat up and pulled the blanket up to her chin.

Tony grabbed his shoes and sat down next to her.

"What are we going to do?" she smiled expecting.

"We could go to the beach?" he proposed.

"Great."

"I'm gonna pick you up around 12."

"Good." They kissed.

They slowly separated not willing to let go off each other,

"I should go now." He said and stood up quickly.

She smiled at him a last time and then he went out.

Michelle was beyond happiness. Something she couldn't describe.

It had been such a perfect date and an even greater evening.

She'd never felt something like this before but she could tell that she was in love with Tony.

Tony slowly closed her door and somehow it even was a disappointing noise to his ears.

'You're gonna see her tomorrow.' He reminded himself.

A big part of him just wanted to go back.


	3. Unintended

**This takes place 3 months and 5 months after season 2.**

**The title "Unintended" is a song from Muse. **

_You could be my unintended  
Choice to live my life extended  
You could be the one I'll always love  
You could be the one who listens  
To my deepest inquisitions  
You could be the one I'll always love_

I'll be there as soon as I can  
But I'm busy mending broken  
Pieces of the life I had before

First there was the one who challenged  
All my dreams and all my balance  
She could never be as good as you  
You could be my unintended  
Choice to live my life extended  
You should be the one I'll always love

I'll be there as soon as I can  
But I'm busy mending broken  
Pieces of the life I had before

I'll be there as soon as I can  
But I'm busy mending broken  
Pieces of the life I had before

Before you  


**Disclaimer: I do not owe "24", or the song "unintended" by Muse.**

**Events do not occur in real time ; )**

Tony couldn't focus on the screen in front of him anymore.

The little white numbers were turning upside down and his head was pounding ever since he had turned his computer on, 30 minutes ago.

He took a look at his watch, he'd been at CTU for over 20 hours now, because a special tactical operation had come in last night, an operation he was ordered to survey from the headquarter.

Brad Hammond himself had called him just half an hour before he was supposed to be off, and told him about this operation.

And after they had successfully finished it, Ryan ordered him to check the protocols of another operation from a few weeks ago. Not that this thing could not wait until next week, Tony thought, frowning.

He sighed and closed the document, then switched the laptop off, and was just about grabbing his jacket when someone entered his office.

When Tony looked up, he sighed again. Was he ever going to get out of there again?

"Ryan. What can I do for you?"

"I just wanted to let you know about a meeting at District on Monday." Chapelle said.

Tony took his planer out of a shelve and opened it.

"What time?"

"Around 10."

"I can do it. What is it about?"

"A presentation. District has plans to restructure CTU after the whole bomb-thing."

"Alright.

Tony was wondering what they were doing up at District when they didn't come down with such things.

"Have you finished the protocols?" Ryan sat down in the chair across him.

"Yeah."

"Okay, then could you check the logs ..."

"Damn it Ryan." Tony cut him off loudly and harsh.

Chapelle's face turned into a mix of surprise and disgust.

"I've been here for over 20 hours now. Don't you think this can wait?"

"Well, no. The comm.logs haven't been updated in over two days."

Tony sighed and looked at him,

"You could do that." Tony offered, not willing to get angry with this guy again.

"I could." Ryan now gave him a weird smile.

"Oh come on Ryan, get over it!"

"What do you mean, Almeida?"

"For over 3 months you keep on punishing me and Michelle for nothing."

"I wouldn't call sedating your boss nothing."

"Yeah...you know what? I don't care whatever you would call it. I've been here for 20 hours and now I am gonna go home until Monday." he smiled brightly at Chapelle, grabbed his jacket and went out.

"Tony!" Chapelle yelled after him.

"See you on Monday Ryan." Tony said and then went out.

When he slid behind the wheel in his car he took a deep breath to slow down his raising pulse.

This stupid stubborn idiot.

"Calm down Tony", he told himself as something caught his glance, a small piece of paper that was attached to the dashboard.

He'd put it there a week ago to remind him of the free weekend that was beginning today.

A bright smile appeared on his face.

The following three days he would spend on a weekend trip to Ventura ... with Michelle.

They'd planed that almost two weeks ago. They would drive to this little inn at the beach and just enjoy the free time, together.

Two full days just for the two of them. What else could he wish after such a long day?

Ever since they had started to date a few months ago, his life had changed for the best with each second passing.

Michelle had definitely enriched his life like no one else before.

And no matter how bad his mood was, if he were with her for just a single second it got better right away.

He would pick her up in about 4 hours, which gave him about 3 hours to catch some sleep. But he did not care. This was the first time they would spend time together for a longer time and not even CTU could stop him from going on that trip.

Sitting on her bed with legs crossed, Michelle stared out the window. She didn't know how long she had been sitting there already.

Usually she would sleep longer then 6 hours after a shift at CTU, but she was just so excited about today.

Last night, when she saw him at CTU, he'd started to prepare an operation in the field and she couldn't get a chance to talk to him. But he would pick her up in a few hours, and then she'd have all the time to talk to him.

And she loved talking to Tony, because it always felt like they had known each other since forever.

Two weeks ago, he'd asked her out of town for a weekend-trip with him.

Just out of the blue.

It totally threw her off. But she not even for a single second did she hesitate.

Three days with Tony alone was all she'd wanted the whole time.

But at the office they still behaved like they were just co-workers.

And yet, there was a difference . A small one, only they could notice. Every once in a while their hands slightly touched, which seemed to happen unintentionally, but not to Michelle.

Then they looked at each other in silence with a knowing smile.

These moments made her day.

But the best was that it did not end with that. Instead, they spent more and more time outside work together.

Either she spent the night at his place or he came over to her apartment, they had something to eat or went to the theatre.

But this whole hiding thing at work was still nagging her.

On the other hand, why should she worry about this today?

It was going to be a beautiful weekend with an amazing guy and nothing would destroy this.

Michelle yawned and stretched as her glance wandered across her bedroom.

Tony's dark-blue shirt was laying on her chair, his favorite shirt to sleep in. The one he had given her to sleep a few nights ago.

She had to smile. This was all she'd ever dreamed of.

Pulling back her blanket, she spotted the thin tiny scar under her left knee. The only visible thing

left that reminded her of that horrible day 3 months ago.

She had lost a lot of good friends that day and … even though it sounded inappropriate, it was

also the best day of her life by far.

And then a smile appeared on her face.

George Mason.

She owed him so much.

She touched the slight line on her bare skin, that would always remind her of that day and George Mason.

And she was okay with that.

Tony got into his car and floored the gas pedal.

He'd told Michelle he would pick her up at 5 and now it was 4.55. He would have to break some laws to get to Michelle in time.

He wiped his eyes that were burning strongly. Well, Tony , 3 hours sleep even come close to the minimum sleep amount your body needs.

Quickly he opened the window and took in the fresh cold air of this december afternoon.

A red traffic light was making him even more nervous.

When he finally stopped his car in front of the apartment complex Michelle was living in, it was 4.59. He breathed relieved and got out of the car.

Then he saw Michelle sitting on the stairs.

She had turned her face up to the sun. Her eyes were closed, she seemed like she wanted to absorb the light rays that were shining down on her.

He watched her for a few moments.

How come she always looked so perfect, so gorgeous?

Even if she was just wearing jeans and a plain blue pullover like today she looked stunning and breathtaking, especially when she wore her hair open with the curls falling down on her shoulders.

Like an angel.

"Hey."

Michelle opened her eyes and looked at him smiling.

"Can we go?" he took her bag.

She eyed him with a suspicious look.

"What?"

"You look tired." she said softly with a worried look.

Tony shrugged it off and went to the car.

Michelle followed and stopped behind him taking his hand; she looked at him, still worried.

"Tony?"

"I'm okay."

"Really?"

"Yeah. It's been a long shift, but now I just want to go, okay?"

Michelle nodded shortly, still looking worried.

Tony closed the trunk, as suddenly Michelle pulled out the keys off his pocket.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"I am gonna drive. No argument Mr.Almeida." she smiled at him.

There it was again, this wonderful smile she had given him so many times by now, and yet every time his heart stopped for a second.

He nodded agreeing and got into the car on the passenger seat.

Michelle turned on the engine,

"Ready?"

But Tony just leaned over and kissed her softly.

When they got to the inn it was already dark.

Michelle killed the engine on the parking lot in front of the inn and turned in her seat.

Tony had fallen asleep within two minutes after left Los Angeles. She watched him for a minute, then leaned over and slightly touched his cheek then kissed him on the lips.

He slowly opened the eyes looking confused.

"Hey... we are there." she whispered smiling.

At that, Tony smiled shy and they got out of the car.

At the reception inside, Tony placed the bags on the floor.

"Hey." He said to the young boy who was reading a magazine behind the counter. And the magazine was obviously more important than anything else.

Tony gave Michelle a sorry look and turned back to the boy.

"Uhm…" Tony tried again.

"How can I help you?" he still didn't look up.

"We would like to have a room." Michelle said.

Suddenly his face appeared from behind the comic, and with a big smile he put it away starring at Michelle.

Tony watched him for a few seconds.

"My name is Tony Almeida. I called last week and reserved a double bed room. Two nights."

"Uh…yeah." The boy stood up and grabbed some keys not stopping to stare at Michelle and handed them to her.

"It is room 7. Right over there." He pointed down a hallway on the left side smiling brightly.

"Oh…if you need anything, my name is Billy. I am here all weekend."

"Thank you." Tony said and then followed Michelle down the hallway.

When they arrived at their door Tony couldn't manage to hide his grin anymore.

"What?" Michelle put in the key and looked at him.

"Nothing." He tried to stop grinning.

"Tony!"

She was getting a bit angry so Tony raised his hands and said,

"Just…I think you got a new friend."

"What do you mean?"

"Come on…this boy was flirting with you."

"No…Tony. I mean, he was like 16 years old." She said uneasy while unlocking the door.

"He was flirting. But who can blame him? You are beautiful." With that, he opened the door and they entered.

Michelle wanted to respond, but the room was making her forget what she wanted to say.

It was more like a big suite. There was a big bed on one side and a chimney on the other side.

There was a couch next to the bed and huge windows with a separate door that led to the beach behind it.

"Wow." was all she could say while walking over to the window.

"It's great." Tony agreed and placed the bags onto the bed and sat down.

Michelle turned around and went over stopping right in front of him, laying her arms around his neck.

"It was a great idea. Thank you."

He smiled and stood up, kissing her.

He just loved to kiss her. He could kiss her all the time – even at work.

Two weeks ago when they were working on something at CTU, he stood right next to her and she gave him one of her gorgeous smiles.

He lost his composure then and leaned over to kiss her.

Fortunately there was no other agent around.

It wasn't forbidden to date co-workers, but no one was eager to work with dating agents either. It was like a secret rule. So Tony and Michelle had decided to not tell anyone at work yet.

But this weekend he could kiss her whenever he wanted to.

He pulled her tighter and they felt backwards on the bed.

Laughing, they separated and laid down on their backs next to each other.

He interlocked his fingers with hers.

"We should take a look at a map. To decide what we can do tomorrow." He said.

"You haven't made plans yet?"

"No…I mean, we still can stay in here all weekend." He grinned sheepish.

"Yeah…" she smiled and kissed him again.

"Hey…what about this? I try to get this fire on and you go out to your friend Billy and ask if he can give you a map." He blinked at her and grinned.

Michelle rolled her eyes sighing and went out.

When she got back a few minutes later, glad that Billy wasn't there anymore, she found Tony still laying where she'd left him.

"Hey, I thought you wanted to …" she stopped when she noticed that he'd fallen asleep.

She sneaked over to him quietly and carefully put out his shoes then took the blanket and covered him.

He must have been really tired she thought while stroking his head slightly.

And even though he had not told her how long he had been at work before she could tell it must have been at least 15 hours straight.

She smiled. She could not believe he had done this not to have to postpone this trip.

He was so wonderful.

And there he was, sleeping next to her, looking so relaxed and happy.

She still couldn't believe her luck.

It had only been 3 months since they started to go out, but she already knew she had finally found someone she trusted, she wanted to spend her life with and … someone she loved.

Michelle switched off the light and laid down on her side a few minutes later.

She watched the moon for a long time unable to fall asleep. The thought on her mind just didn't want to go away.

Wondering if she would spend the rest of her life with Tony.

She knew it sounded ridiculous, but yet something inside her told her that she was right.

That he was the one.

The smell of fresh coffee and eggs woke her up after what seemed like a five-day sleep to her. She was feeling great when she went out on the porch.

"That smells great!" she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and laid her face in his right shoulder.

"Good morning." He leaned back and kissed her cheek.

"Why didn't you tell me you were this tired?"

"I did not want you to convince me not to take this trip."

Michelle sighed, but then smiled and kissed him. He wrapped his arms around her shoulder and they remained like this for a while then he turned around and both sat down on the bench.

They talked about their plans for the day and decided that they were going to the local zoo and aquarium and that they would have lunch at an Italian restaurant.

The day went perfect. They walked through the park hand in hand watched the animals and had lunch. It was a wonderful time for both of them where they would just think about the present, not about work or terrorists.

It was just them.

"I am starving here Mr. Almeida." Michelle closed the door of the car and followed Tony who was walking quickly towards the inn.

"That is why we are here." he said entering the major hall.

"But they don't serve dinner for another two hours!" she increased her speed to reach him.

"I know." He turned around smiling.

Michelle hesitated a moment not knowing what he was up to.

When she finally reached him at the door of their room he was leaning against the doorframe fiddling with something that looked like a scarf.

Michelle stopped two meters away and looked at him unsure of what do say.

"Come here." he pulled her over.

"What are you doing?"

"That is a surprise." he said and tied the black scarf around her head so she wouldn't see anything.

Before Michelle could add anything else, he carefully leaded her through their room until she could feel the sand under her shoes.

"Okay. You can look now." he said and helped her untie it.

When she opened her eyes, she started smiling.

There was a small table with two chairs. The table was standing in the middle of the beach, just a few meters away from the ocean. On it, she saw things like salad, fruits, pasta and a lot more.

"What?" she finally said.

"Sit down. I thought you were hungry." he smiled brightly.

They sat down across each other.

"When did you do all this?" she smiled at him.

"I had some help. " he grinned mysteriously.

"It looks great."

"Yeah…and in about 30 minutes we can watch the sunset over there." He pointed behind her and then took the bottle of wine and opened it.

"You are too good for this world." she leaned over and gave him a short but soft kiss.

"I know." he teased.

They ate some pasta and salad, had a glass of wine.

About twenty minutes later, he stood up and took the blanket that he had laid next to him.

He grabbed her hand and they walked about 50 meters away to a small bay.

He spread the blanket and they sat down.

"It is so beautiful here." she said leaning against his chest.

Tony wrapped his arms around her shoulder and kissed her ear slightly.

Michelle leaned back some more and turned her face, starting to kiss him.

When they broke he sat up and looked into her eyes,

"Michelle?" he whispered.

"Yes?" she looked back at him wondering about his serious expression.

"I love you." He whispered.

Michelle looked at him with big eyes.

"You don't have to say anything. I just…"

"Tony…I love you, too." She cut him off smiling shyly.

Then a big smile appeared on his face.

"Oh god…I was so afraid you wouldn't feel the same." He admitted smiling shyly.

"How couldn't I? I mean, you are an amazing man and I love to be with you." They started to kiss again.

Tony closed the door, still kissing Michelle, he almost tripped over the bag that was standing next to the bed.

In their try to catch the fall they felt down on the bed giggling.

"I'll never let you have a glass of wine again." he said teasing.

"Why?" she did not stop to unbutton his shirt.

"Because we could have had a broken neck cause of you now."

"As if it were me who wouldn't stop the kissing."

On that, he pulled her over and started to kiss her even more.

Michelle totally gave in into the kiss and started to get rid of her shoes as well as his shirt.

When Tony stopped the car, she got out, and together they went over to her apartment.

He carried her bag with one hand and held her hand with the other.

"It was an awesome weekend. Thank you, Tony!" she gave him a hug.

"We should definitely do that again soon." he kissed her.

"So…Am I going to see you tomorrow?" she asked.

"Yes. At around noon."

"Alright." She smiled and opened her door.

He smiled back and then started to kiss her.

When they separated he turned to go as Michelle took his hand and pulled him back,

"I love you."

He smiled, gave her another soft kiss and whispered,

"And I love you."

**About two months later**

Michelle was running up the stairs, taking two at a time, her keys in her hand, ready to open the door. It was raining like hell.

When she arrived at the last step, she tripped and reached out for the balustrade and grabbed it at the last moment, pulling herself forward.

She stopped in front of the door, breathing hard. She had tried to hurry but it was in vain, she was dripping wet.

Her feet were hurting and all she wanted was to kick those shoes off and take a hot shower and stay up until Tony would be back.

She took some deep breaths until her heartbeat reached its normal rate and then opened the door.

It was dark around her and she put off her shoes closing her door.

She went to her couch to switch on the light as suddenly someone grabbed her arm and pulled her back.

Shrieking Michelle turned around as the light went on.

"You scared the hell out of me." she pinched Tony's arm slightly.

"I know." he was grinning all over his face.

"I though you were still at Division." she wrapped her wet arms around his neck.

"We could wrap up the meeting earlier."

"Does that mean…we've got a whole evening for us?" her eyes started to shine.

"Yup." he kissed her.

"Why don't you take a shower and change and I'll order something to eat?" he asked when they splitted.

"Perfect." she smiled exhausted.

"What do you want?"

"I am fine with anything."

He nodded shortly and then she went to the bedroom.

Standing in front of the closet, Michelle could hear Tony ordering her favourite food at the Chinese restaurant a few blocks away.

And she smiled. He knew what she needed to become herself again after such a long day.

But honestly, Tony was all she needed for that.

Grabbing his stanford pullover she loved so much, she sighed at the mess inside the closet. Her clothes were mixed with his in this huge closet in Tony's bedroom.

Maybe she could try to organize it some day.

But somehow she liked it this way, at least her clothes were now smelling like Tony and she would not forget him when she wasn't with him. But that was impossible anyway, she thought grinning.

Michelle also took her pyjamas pants and went to the bathroom.

She really got used to this slowly.

During the last months she'd spent almost all of her free time at Tony's. She couldn't believe they had been together for almost 5 months now. Actually it felt more like 5 years.

And she was still falling more in love with him each day.

But lately their time together was rare.

With Tony being the director of CTU, her being his second-in-command and all the changes at the office, it was hard for them to find time they could spend together.

The CTU was being restructured into two charges, the Headquarter led by Tony and the Field-ops-unit, led by Jack Bauer.

After the bomb went off 5 months ago, they had rebuilt the main hall to prevent another bomb from destroying CTU again. They tore down some walls and built them up again with another, stronger material.

Also they had gotten a new computer system and if that wasn't enough, they also had to hire a lot of new people, so everything was going upside down.

Tony had appointments at District and Division almost everyday and, then, Michelle was the ranking agent in charge.

But that would be over soon, she told herself everyday. And hopefully this would be true.

When Michelle got back to the living room, Tony was already sitting on the couch watching the news.

She sat down next to him, putting her feet onto the couch; she leaned against his shoulder.

"We should get you your own pullover." he wrapped his arm around her kissing her temple.

"No…I am good with yours." she yawned grinning.

"Long day?" he muted the TV.

"Not really. Just exhausting. This whole interrogation is bugging me."

"What about it?" Tony remembered that she had started this interrogation about a month ago.

"We are kinda stuck. Our intelligence is obviously not that good. But let's not talk about that. I just want to think about nothing." She took her sweet and sour rice and ate.

"When do you have to leave tomorrow?" Tony took a sip of his water.

"At 9.30. You?"

"I've got another important meeting at Division at 8." he shrugged.

"This whole restructuring …who came up with this?"

"Some guys at Division. But once we are done, it will get easier for all of us."

"And when will that be?" she sighed.

He stroked over her hair and twirled a curl of her hair around his finger.

Michelle crutched nearer and put away her rice. Then she laid down in his lap and closed her eyes for a while.

Tony softly touched her cheek and said,

"I am sorry, but I promise you, once this is over, we will take a week off!"

"Yeah, that would be great. We could drive to..."

The ring of his cell phone cut her off.

Tony hesitated a moment. He took the phone and saw the caller I.D. – it was Chapelle.

He knew exactly what was coming next.

Instead of cuddling with Michelle and enjoying to be near her he would have to go back to work.

He hated himself for treating her like he had done during the last couple of weeks.

But what could he do? Ryan had warned him not to even think about not answering the phone.

The right thing to do was to tell him that he was in the middle of something more important. That he had not seen Michelle very often lately, even though she practically already lived with him.

And that he did not even remember the last time he had woken up next to Michelle in the morning.

But he couldn't say that.

A while ago they had agreed to wait for the right moment to tell their co- workers at CTU about them.

But would that moment ever come?

Michelle watched him talking on the phone, knowing exactly that she would spend the rest of that evening alone, just like the day before.

Two minutes later, he hung up. She smiled at him, but he was clearly disappointed.

"I really hate this." He came back to her and shook his head slightly wrapping his arms around her chest.

"Me, too. But in a few weeks it will be over, right?" she kissed his cheek softly.

Tony nodded shortly and sighed,

"How long will it take?" Michelle looked up on him.

"An hour."

"Okay, uhm...I gotta get some stuff from my apartment anyway so why don't you go to CTU and later we can meet here again?" she smiled at him, the wonderful smile of hers.

His heart started to beat faster immediately.

"okay." was all he could answer.

She smiled at him for another moment, kissed him, then grabbed her jacket and went to the door.

"Michelle?" Tony turned and looked at her.

Michelle turned around and saw Tony's worried look.

She went back to him,

"You okay?"

She looked at him asking.

"Why don't you move here?" he bursted out.

"What?"

"I mean…completely. You wouldn't have to go home to get your clothes and so … we could spend more time together."

"Uh…you want me to move here?"

"Yeah…my apartment is bigger and … I mean half of your stuff is already here." he smiled and pointed to the red blanket she had brought over the last week.

Suddenly she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him laughing.

"That's a great idea."

They kissed again.

"But..." she started.

"But what?" he asked when she hesitated.

"Uh...if I move here everybody at work will know."

"Yeah...but don't you think it is about time?"

"Yes, but what are they gonna say?" she looked at him uneasy and worried.

"Hey." He softly took her hands and smiled,

"I don't care about that. And you shouldn't either. I mean we have each other and even if they start to mug me I won't care because I got you and that is all that matters to me."

Michelle took a deep breath, then laid her head on his shoulder,

"I love you Tony."

"Is that a yes?"

"Yes, it is. I am gonna move here." now she lifted her head and smiled at him.

"You'll see it is not gonna be so bad."

"Wait until Chapelle knows." She said smiling slightly.

Tony leaned down and kissed her.

When Michelle entered her apartment 20 minutes later she suddenly realized that everything would turn out to be okay. She really did not care about how the colleagues or even Chapelle

would react, all that mattered was to be with Tony. She was so deeply in love with him, and even though she had never felt such a strong feeling before, she knew what it was and what it meant.

She was a little scared of letting someone near her again, but why?

Tony was just perfect and he was her everything. Even after 5 months only, she knew she had found the one true love.

About a week later, Michelle was walking up to her new official home, with Tony.

She was carrying the last box full of stuff from her apartment.

When she opened the door she saw Tony sitting on the couch smiling at her.

"Hey."

"The last one?" he asked smiling.

Michelle nodded satisfied and put the box on the floor and went over to Tony.

"So, then Welcome home Michelle." he kissed her and they sat down on the couch.

"So, how'd it go with Chapelle?" Tony handed her a glass of water.

"Well half an hour after I send the document regarding personal changes to Division, I got a call from him."

"And?" Tony asked.

"He asked me if that address would be correct and I said yes."

"That is all?"

"Actually, no. He also asked me to come see him first thing in the morning tomorrow." she smiled slightly and leaned back.

"I am gonna come with you." Tony leaned back too and took her hand in his.

"Please tell me everything is gonna be fine." Michelle turned her face to Tony.

"It will, sweetheart. Don't worry."

"Okay." she sighed and kissed him.

She knew everything was okay as long as Tony was with her.

Michelle would never give up on him ever again. (?)

The next morning, Michelle was sitting at her desk, nervously tipping her fingers on her thigh. Tony was up in his office talking to someone on the phone.

Chapelle was expected to be here every minute and her heart was racing.

Suddenly her phone rang.

"Dessler?" she answered it.

"It's me." It was Tony.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"Chapelle just arrived, you better come up to me now."

"Alright." she hung up and went to the stairs as fast as she could.

Tony leaned back in his seat and saw Chapelle walking in heading to an agent when Michelle entered the office.

"Hey." he said smiling.

"I am nervous." she admitted with a quite voice.

"Don't." he said smiling and indicated her to sit down on the chair across him.

While she sat down, Tony turned and saw Chapelle headind to the stairs that were leading to his office.

"He's coming. Michelle? I love you, okay? It is gonna be okay!"

She smiled brightly and nodded but her smile vanished the second Ryan entered the office.

When Chapelle saw Michelle and Tony already sitting there he turned and closed the door. Then he stepped over to the desk and first looked to Tony, then to Michelle.

"Well, I guess I was right about my assumption." he said.

"We..." Tony started but he was interrupted by Chapelle,

"Listen, let me get this straight first. You too have just moved together, and I assume you did not do that so you can spare half of the rent, right?"

"I really..."

"No Almeida, just tell me if I am right." he looked at him with darting eyes.

"You are right Ryan." Tony sighed.

"Okay, uh .. I am gonna talk to Brad Hammond about this." Chapelle reached out for the phone as Tony put his hand on his to hold him back.

On that, Chapelle gave him an odd-Ryan-look and opened his mouth to protest as Tony stood up and said,

"Could I talk to you outside?"

Chapelle nodded shortly, but yet confused, and both men went out leaving an even more confused Michelle.

Michelle stood up and watched the men. Tony was talking most of the time and he seemed to be relaxed.

Two minutes later they came back and Ryan turned to Michelle,

"Okay, just the slightest mistake because of this and you are out of here, understood?"

Michelle nodded confused.

"Okay, and now get back to work." Ryan said and went out.

Michelle was staring at the floor unsure of what had just happened.

"You okay?" Tony stepped over and touched her arm.

She looked at him, smiling surprised,

"What did you say to him?"

"That he should be sorry for you because you can't cook." he grinned.

"Tony!"

"I just told him that it won't interfere with my work or yours and if it ever does, I will take full responsibility for it. Completely.

And that he can fire me immediately if he ever sees us doing anything else but work." he smiled friendly.

"You did?"

Tony nodded.

On that, Michelle smiled at him.

"Okay, and now let us go back to work. I guess Chapelle will be breathing down our necks from now on." he grinned and went back behind his desk.

Michelle went to the door and turned before she went down,

"I love you."

She smiled brightly at him.


End file.
